Craftsman 6 inch Lathe

#1
I have been aware of this little lathe for several years. The owner had a sentimental attachment to it and wouldn't part with it. He was a friend of my buddy Bruce with the Blazer. Well he passed this summer and Bruce knew I liked it so one day he showed up at my house with it. I couldn't believe it. Still has the original Craftsman motor too. I think I am just going to hang it on the wall as a display piece. Probably swap it over to a piece of plywood instead of the diamond plate that it is on.

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delray

Well-Known Member
#2
nice little guy. small ones come in handle to make minibike parts...:scooter:
i see it came with a 4 jaw and the tailstock. any other stuff with it?
 
#3
nice little guy. small ones come in handle to make minibike parts...:scooter:
i see it came with a 4 jaw and the tailstock. any other stuff with it?
What you see is what I got. I know that the guy that I knew that had it had never used it. I have no idea if it came to him with any accessories. It would be nice to have a 3 jaw chuck for it. You can still find parts for it on Epay. You just have to be patient. I haven't found anything to small for my 12'' Craftsman lathe. So I don't plan to spend any money chasing pieces for this one.

Sadly I can remember going in the original Sears & Roebuck when it was downtown Charleston on King Street and seeing all the Lathes and Minibikes and Go-karts on display.

If I knew then what I know now......
 

delray

Well-Known Member
#5
interesting why my 12x36 is called a Sears & Roebuck(atlas) and everything else i see is called a craftsman.
think i posted this in the pass?
called workshop. made by south bend. measurements are given little different on this lathe. on the ID tag they have 9 inch swing and a 3 foot bed. in reality it has maybe a 18-20 working area. cool lathe still. found it in a old tranny shop under some stuff covered in oil and crap. hey it was free. came with alot of stuff. someday i would like to clean it up and play with it.

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desert rat

Well-Known Member
#6
I love these mini lathes. I have a full size wood lathe, base ball bats,table legs and such. Then I got the fun size guy (it is setting on the dinning room table). I also have the bench top mini table saw by Craftsman. Keep showing them off.
 

Attachments

#8
Ours is a fine running machine. Almost zero runout. Just have to take light cuts. It was real sensitive to the mounting surface. It took some shims, a precision level, and some time to run an accurate test bar. Now we check it twice a year or more.
We make all our small parts on it.
Good story, good machine.
 
#9
Sorry for being late but I just first saw this post. I believe that is a Dunlap lathe sold by Sears (Craftsmen). Does it have the tag with the serial number? If the serial number starts with 109 then it is a Dunlap. If it starts with 101 then it is an Atlas. The Atlas is a more beefier lathe and has flat ways and everything is just a little bigger. The Dunlap is lighter duty. It has a really small spindle that runs in bushings. Make sure you spindle bushings are good and tight. I had one of these lathes about 30 years ago (boy does that make me feel old) and it had worn spindle bushings. It was also hard to find tooling for it. I believe the taper in the head stock is morse taper #0. The 6" Atlas lathe had morse taper #1 and there is much more tooling available for it. Also spare parts for the Dunlap are only available in the used market and fetch a high price.
 
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